No 7 Secaucus Extension Final Report - NYCEDC

No. 7 Secaucus ExtensionFeasibility Analysis Final Report1 INTRODUCTIONThis report builds on the pre-conceptual planning effort led by the Mayor’s Office of the City ofNew York in December 2010/January 2011, in the wake of the cancellation of the ARC project,to examine the feasibility of extending the No. 7 Subway to Frank R. Lautenberg (FRL) Station inSecaucus, New Jersey. A conceptual alignment was developed providing a connection fromthe No. 7 terminal station currently under construction at West 34 th Street and 11 th Avenue tonew tunnels under the Hudson River and the Palisades (based on the completed ARC designs)to a new terminal station at FRL Station.In February 2011, the Mayor’s Office of the City of New York contracted with Parsons Brinckerhoffto prepare this report documenting the engineering feasibility, and the environmental and legalissues and opportunities of the No. 7 Secaucus Extension. This report was prepared incoordination with a bi-state, multi-agency working group. 2 This effort involved three WorkingGroups (Planning and Engineering, Environmental Process, and Legal Issues) to further examinethe feasibility of the No. 7 Secaucus Extension. The information developed by the WorkingGroups will be used to inform the Governors of New York and New Jersey and the Mayor of NewYork City to allow for a decision on whether to advance the No. 7 Secaucus Extension to asubsequent phase of planning and funding.The Planning and Engineering Working Group’s technical analysis can be found in Sections 2through 7 of this report. The Environmental Process Working Group report can be found inAppendix A, and the Legal Issues Working Group report can be found in Appendix B.Planning and EngineeringThe Planning and Engineering Working Group evaluated the operational and engineeringfeasibility of the No. 7 Secaucus Extension. The conceptual design relies on the engineering andenvironmental documentation previously developed for the recently cancelled ARC project.Track alignment, stations, construction methods, and operations were studied to determine theengineering feasibility of the project.The key design elements of the No. 7 Secaucus Extension include: Extension of the No. 7 Subway to FRL Station via a new Hudson River tunnel and alignment inNew Jersey approximately 40' south of the Northeast Corridor (NEC) right-of-way. This wouldprovide an area for possible future expansion of Amtrak or NJ TRANSIT service along the NEC. An expanded No. 7/Bus Multimodal Facility with a No. 7 terminal station and multi-modal busterminal directly south of the NEC and integrated with FRL Station to accommodateincreased bus feeder service. No. 7 train storage, maintenance facility, and crew quarters in Secaucus. The previously deferred No. 7 station at 10 th Avenue and other improvements to existingNo. 7 stations in Manhattan.2 The working group included representatives of the Governor’s offices of New York and New Jersey, Mayor’s Officeof the City of New York, New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Port Authority of New York and NewJersey, New Jersey Transit, Hudson Yards Development Corporation, New York City Department of City Planning,New York City Department of Transportation, and New Jersey Department of Transportation.1